It does to me also! Here's the governments web site for the census bureau and the page link for it regarding phone calls:

https://www.census.gov/#
https://www.census.gov/survey_participants/ho ... phone_call.html

A federal department working in a Saturday???  Sounds more like a scam than a legitimate call.

I filled out a form that I assumed was a US Census Bureau form some months ago. Recently, I started getting calls from a 520 area code # claiming to be from the Census Bureau. The callers left messages telling me to call this 888-419-7586 number, and giving me a case #.
I ignored the first few calls, but finally got a call on a Saturday so I called the 888 number to find out what was so important and why they weren't just mailing me.
The woman on the phone couldn't find my case number and asked me to verify my phone number, which I did, but as the conversation progressed she sounded too unprofessional and her manner was unpleasant, so I asked her if this was some kind of scam. She insisted that she was with the US Census bureau, but I only gave her my new address and told her to mail me if they needed any more information.

I got the same call and was told on voice mail they are open from 9 am to 12 am.  What goverment agency is open until midnight?   I am not returning their call. Sounds fishy.

sock puppet.

Why would anyone who doesn't have skin in the game care about this as much as you obviously do?  Why would the US Census Bureau not just leave their main, easily verifiable main, 800# call center main number when they wanted people to return their calls for this survey.

I have completed no census long form and I continuously get these calls.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably b***s***.

I called the Hagerstown call center. They verified the phone number 1-888-419-7586. They looked up the case number I found on my answering machine and verified that it was a valid case. Not only that, they knew when the calls were made to my phone. So I called 1-888-419-7586 and the lady who helped me knew details about a survey I took that only the Census Bureau would know.

But I have also gotten phone calls from scammers. It would be an easy scam for people to claim they are from the Census Bureau and then pry personal identifiable information from a victim. If you are not sure the phone call is from the Census Bureau, BY ALL MEANS CALL THEM TO VERIFY THE NUMBER!

I called 888-419-7586 and gave the case number given in the message left on my answering machine. I was asked only to verify info that we supplied on a survey we recently completed for the US CEnsus Bureau, plus answers to some questions my husband probably didn't respond to, which consisted only of info about the most recent charges for our use of gas, electricity, and water/sewer service. The operator was perfectly polite and not intrusive (I had my guard up). I really believe it WAS the US Census Bureau. She explained that the info was used to allocate resources to our district.

We received the same survey,my huband completed and mailed it. I unfortunately answered more questions when  I received the call. Should we be worried about indentity theft? We now have "fraud alerts" on the 3 credit bureaus, but is this enough?

1-888-419-7586 is NOT a listed U.S. Census Bureau number (as per the U.S. Census Bureau website). Hagerstown is 1-800-392-6975, Jeffersonville 1-800-523-3205 and Tucson 1-800-642-0469. I called my official regional census bureau directly and, they are doing their own research on the mysterious 1-888-419-7586 number.

Because that is very likely when you will be home.  8 out of 10 times you will!

I have been getting multiple calls from the following numbers that show up on our caller ID as The US Census Bureau.  (520) 798-4152, (240) 420-6029, and (812) 218-3144.  We are ignoring all of these calls.  I got and filled out the basic Census form but only responded to the basic questions leaving unnecessary questions blank.  We got a follow up survey asking for detailed information stating it was the law to respond.  We threw this away too.  We then got one call on a Sunday from a woman with a southern accent trying to get personal information.  We thought it was a scam so we refused to answer and hung up.  We are now getting about 3-5 calls every Sat. And Sun.  We want to know who to contact to stop the harrassment.  This is America.  What is happening to our rights as law abiding citizens.  When criminals are arrested they have the right to remain silent?  Shouldn't we as law abiding citizens also have this right?  We need to do something.  I am reading the entries here and see this has been going on since 2009.  This is deplorable.

Original call came from 813-218-3144 leaving a message to contact 888-419-7586.  After checking the numbers, I contacted the local Census Bureau and this is a company doing updates for them,  I returned the call to the 888 number and talked with a woman who said they rec'd our survery response and there were more questions they needed answered..Their original survey was filled out and returned to them and there wasnt nothing left blank so I asked what other information they needed and they want SS numbers, banking info. etc..I informed this woman that their phone numbers were coming up as SCAM and that I had reported them to The Federal Trade Commission.  The local Census office called me back and traced my name and number and said that we werent even in their system as being contacted and they also believed something wasnt right..
So if you get a call, forward as much information as possible to your local Census Bureau office and the Federal Trade Commision and let them followup on this SCAM.

This American Survey at this # definitely asks income, question #47: wages, self-employment, interest, dividends, rental income, royalty income, etc.!!!!!!!!!!  Social Security/Railroad retirement???? SSI??? Welfare??? And other sources of income....all with the answer box being $$....This is outrageous, I am sooooo angry at being harassed by this survey.  I have answered the census form, no this.  I have answered what is required "by Law" I believe, the # of people in the house, ages, etc.  and I explicitly said all further questions were invasive into my privacy.  Also...do I have a flush toilet?? a sink with a faucet???   This is not a communist country, it is not going to be a socialist one either..November is coming.

I too filled out a census form I thought was legitimate, but now after reading these posts, it seems to be a scam.  I can't believe I fell for it.  I probably entered income level and net worth.  That's probably what they're after.  Just general information connected to a telephone number and address.  Now in the future someone with specific information about you can pretend to be someone else by knowing details that you would not have thought anyone would know. It's pretty clever too because most of the people responding on these boards still think the call was legitimate because they did indeed get a "census" form.

When you get these types of calls, Google the number.
I got the same call. It is The Windsor Group. These are lowlife debt and skip trace collectors. They call me, my friends and neighbors, even my land lord.
They use several different phone numbers. Some are 800 numbers. I have contacted the FTC about them. They stated that they get complaints everyday about the company. Call the FTC and they will give you a case number. They will tell you to wright a DO NOT CALL letter sent certified mail with return request. Tell them you only take messages by USPS.
I am sending mine in tomorrow. Do not give them any information.

Their Address: The Windsor Group,

10670 N Central Expy, Dallas, TX 75231,(469) 484-5750  

Here are comments about them:
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/4694845750

No where on the census.gov website does that phone number appear. Even the search engine doesn't find it. If the survey was sent to a random address then why do they need my full name, DOB and income. All of the info I felt was too invasive is available at the IRS. Seems like this survey is redundant and just a way of keeping more government workers employed.

Received call for census bureau 1-888-419-7485 case #49236.
Did not return call. 10/24/2011

I also filled out a census form and was left a message.  I called and it told me to call a 1-900 number.  Must be a scam.

Its legitimate - http://www.census.gov/npc/contactus.html. Spoke with a nice lady.  Some of the questions asked were ones that I intentionally left blank (e.g. estimated value of our home - especially of this market) and when I told her I still didn't know and couldn't provide an estimate...she moved on.  Everything else was yes/no - nothing that would compromise or threaten our identity.

Nice, the US Govt claiming to not be governed by their own (do-not-call) list, LOL!

Called them back, and asked them for a letter via US Mail - the guy named "Mr. Lopez" I spoke with said that they will not "normally" send a letter (read 'I should not hold my breath waiting for one'),

and

also said that "the US Government is not governed by any 'Do-Not-Call' lists"

and that they will continue to call every time a Computer pops up our records.

When I asked him as to why we received calls from a spoofed number, he admitted that the "US Govt has some numbers(!)" WOW!!!!

I told him that we would be more than happy to review with our attorney, any request via US Mail and provide any information our attorney advises us to provide, and since he said that "he cannot control the calls," I told him that we will continue to ignore the calls.

Does anyone know if the US Govt is not governed by the Do-Not-Call Lists? I will also try to check with the FTC and post whatever I find out, in this forum...

SPOOFED CALL:
My wife picked up a call to our home phone after hours (@ 6:23 PM EST on 09/10/2011 -  the number was 1-520-798-4152 and caller ID stated "US CENSUS BUREA"). A lady saying that she was calling from the Census Bureau about "some missing information" on our form. At this stage, my wife handed over the phone to me and I told the caller that we are not comfortable providing anyone any information over the phone, and if the Census Bureau needed any information from us, they are more than welcome to drop us a letter in the mail. The lady says "this is just some small pieces of information missing" and that they "WILL NOT" send any letter to us by mail, and that she would put a note that "I refused to provide the information"- I asked her to also add to the note that my attorneys and CPA have warned me to not provide information to unknown parties over the phone and that I would be more than happy to review the request for the information sent to us by US mail" - she said she will not be able to add to the note per my request! I told her that it is fine if she didn't want to do that.

I then politely told her that we are on the no-call list, and that we do not wish to receive any further calls from her organization, thanked her, and hung up. I then redialed the number the lady had called me from, and guess what, it goes straight to "your call cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and dial again, 006P".

I got together my wife and son and demonstrated to them as to how we can be gypped by spoof calls claiming to be someone they are not...

VOICEMAIL: A few days later, we have a voicemail from another phone number 1-888-419-7586 with a case number. I am about to call them now...

Chris... Please call the US Census Bureau and ask if this number is valid -- it is part of the National Processing Center, Bureau of the Census.  Next, please Google "The American Community Survey" to find out what kind of questions may be asked.

This doesn't sound like a scam to me. The phone was answered "US Census Bureau" and the rep on the phone knew my address & phone number - she didn't need to ask me for it. All sounded legit to me.

I received a call from this number but the caller id did not match the number given and the caller id said Indiana. As with others sounded like a machine and left a number and 6 digit case number

hello, just as the people reporting above, i got the form to fill and multiple calls. i just returned the call and questions were personal, too personal. but considering that they have all that info from the form scares me even more.

Why would the U S Census Bureau call on Sunday, @ 5:37 p..m.?

This is a legitimate Census Bureau number. For all you people with doubts why don't you just call the Census Bureau Headquarters in Suitland, Maryland and verify these numbers with them- I dare you- I dare all of you infantile conspiracy theorists to call the headquarters. Most of you already know that you filled out the ACS and left some questions blank-so you ought to know you should be expecting a call from them. Americans are getting more stupid by the minute.

We fill out the form in good faith and then get a call to go over the form again. It is our time that is being wasted. You are getting paid, BY US.  If your scanners did not pick up all the information, why do you not go get the copy and update it yourself, rather than bothering us for the 3rd time on this census. If you need the number of people, as the census was to first be for, count the people paying taxes, then the ones collecting social security etc. Bingo you know how many people are in the U.S. and where they live.

Ha you must not realize the amount of idiotic theories people come up with about the reason for collecting data, some people I want to ask " Are you SERIOUS!?" I mean seriously thebdata we collect is for your benefit and none of the data requested even links to your identity you can do it w.o your name and we don't request ssn's. I wish people could comprehend we honestly could careless about you as a person we just want the data haha we don't need your face or a person to even put with the data. Some don't understand and they are the people I sit on mute and laugh with my neighbor about because they come up with the wildest stuff!, like cooome on stfu with the b.s!!